Scholarships That Merit It

Kaplan says that many shy away from applying for merit scholarships because they view the applications as time-consuming, with a low chance of providing ultimate benefits.

Although the odds of winning may seem low at first, Kaplan says that if students are thoughtful and strategic about their applications, their chances of winning significantly increase.

Kaplan recently had the chance to serve as a scholarship judge and saw that few of the many thousands of applicants had thought strategically about the scholarship and its judging criteria in a meaningful way.

His newest guide, “How to Go to College Almost for Free: 10 Days to Scholarship Success,” is a culmination of everything he has worked on for the past five years-—cutting down the process of applying to ten full days.

“I wanted to make the process as streamlined and efficient as possible,” Kaplan says.

Kaplan’s plans of action also apply to students already enrolled in college, who need to apply for grants while still at school.

Kaplan says his books skip over the more obscure scholarships that he used to encounter while on his scholarship search. “It almost seemed like you had to be a 4’6” tall, left-handed, double-jointed man from rural Montana to qualify for one of the profiled awards,” Kaplan says, laughing. “I knew there had to be better, more suitable scholarships out there for me.”

In addition, Kaplan says that taking the time to apply for these merit scholarships is worthwhile, because “avoiding excessive student loans gives you tremendous financial freedom.”

While the College has a strong financial aid program—with the 2003-04 year processing almost $113 million dollars in financial aid—many families are still not able to fully make ends meet.

While Kaplan says that he is not against student loans, he recognizes that excessive loan debt can be a burden.

“Students sometimes have to pass up great opportunities after college—like travel opportunities, community-service or non-profit possibilities, or work that they are really passionate about but doesn’t pay as well—because they have large student loan burdens to pay back,” Kaplan says. “Replacing loans with scholarships gives you the freedom to do what you really want to do.”

At Harvard, the median graduating debt for the Class of 2004 was $8000, according to Director of Financial Aid Sally C. Donahue.

An exit survey last year showed that students graduate with an average credit card debt of about $1200, though the Office of Financial Aid estimates that the figure is actually higher, according to Donahue.

“These merit scholarships are a great way to fill in the gaps,” Kaplan says, noting that merit scholarships apply not only to academic excellence, but also to achievement in art, music and other extracurriculars.